Founded in 2011, the Aurora Commons was created out of friendships formed between housed neighbors and unhoused neighbors living and working along Aurora Avenue N. This community is a rare and disruptive response to the isolation that characterizes many stories of homelessness. Functionally the Commons is a day resource center lovingly called “our neighborhood living room”.
Our unsheltered neighbors are especially vulnerable to the virus as many of them already have compromised immune systems, are sleeping outside, and engaging in street-based sex work to meet basic survival needs. Given current projections it is not only likely that these individuals will get the virus but that they will experience serious, if not lethal, health consequences that the housed community is literally sheltered from.
Currently, Aurora Commons is conducting needs assessments to prepare for mobile outreach launching in the next couple of weeks. They have created a COVID-19 Community Fund, and are asking support from the community to help get through the next few months and beyond. Your monetary donations will go much farther if they are funneled through the Common’s COVID-19 fund since we will be ordering much larger quantities than individual households are able to and are working to find ways to purchase items at cost directly from suppliers.
The work of the Commons can not be done alone. They are grateful for the faithful community that has supported Aurora Commons to date and to anyone who would consider joining at this unprecedented moment in time.
